Barron 2010
November 6, 2008
Councilman Charles Barron, who has abandoned his plans to seek the Brooklyn borough presidency next fall now that term limits have been extended but also is reluctant to seek re-election to his current seat, just informed me that he will definitely mount a second primary challenge to Rep. Ed Towns in 2010.
"Ed Towns is in trouble; that seat is mine," Barron declared. "Barack Obama is going to Washington, and I'm going to join my brother in D.C...Whether it's from not being in office, or from me being in office and running, either way in 2010 I see a congressional run."
Asked if he's 100 percent certain that he won't run again for his Council seat, Barron replied: "I'm 100 percent sure I don't want to come back to City Hall, I'm tired of that place. I want to do something new. But it all depends on the viability of Paul Washington's campaign."
Washington is Barron's former chief of staff. Barron said he plans to spend from now until next spring trying to shore up Washington's campaign, and will only step in to run if he feels his ex-aide isn't strong enough to defeat whoever "the machine" runs.
Barron has alluded to a likely re-match against Towns before, but this is the first time he has spoken so emphatically about his plans.
Barron came uncomfortably close (from Towns' point of view, that is) to unseating the congressman in 2006, winning 38 percent of the vote to Towns' 46 percent in a three-way primary that also included former Assemblyman Roger Green.
In that race, Barron came close despite the fact that he was dramatically under-funded (he raised about $135,000 to Towns' more than $1 million), out-supported (the congressman had the support of the Democratic establishment plus all the labor unions) and, most of all (in his eyes, anyway) out-mailed.
"He mailed at least a dozen times; I still go to my mailbox and suffer anxieties thinking another Towns piece is coming out the back," Barron recalled. "I mailed twice."
Among the obstacles Barron races in 2010 is Kevin Powell, the former "Real World" cast member who dropped out of the 2006 race, but then came back to challenge Towns in this year's primary.
Towns won handily, receiving 67 percent of the vote to Powell's 33 percent.
But that's not to say the congressman wasn't worried during the campaign. He pulled out all the stops, receiving fundraising assistance from Bill Clinton, as Powell sought to capitalize on the wave of support in the district for Barack Obama and the fact that Towns had backed Hillary Clinton.
Powell has vowed to make a third attempt at unseating Towns in 2010, and the 74-year-old congressman, who has long been the subject of retirement rumors, hasn't yet said whether he'll seek another term. The assumption is that if he retires, his son, Assemblyman Darryl Towns, will be among those who seek to replace him.
Barron said he plans to sit down with Powell and try to convince him not to run.
"We would have to work it out," the councilman said. "I don't think either of us would have a chance if we both ran. I think I have a better shot at it. I think I can beat Ed Towns; he's definitely beatable."
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